Food - information and advice
Food Safety - information for businesses
General advice to assist food business
proprietors comply with the law is always available. If you
intend to open a food premises we will provide advice and
assistance to ensure that you comply from day one.
Advice for new business operators is also
available directly from the Food Standards Agency website.
Safer Food, Better Business (SFBB)
Since 1 January 2006, all food businesses must
have a fully documented food safety management system based on the
principles of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP).
This means that you have to decide what it is that you do to
produce food that is safe, and have this written down.
Whilst many larger businesses will have
developed their own systems, many smaller businesses won't.
That is why the Food Standards Agency have produced Safer
Food Better Business (SFBB). There are two types of packs, one for
small caterers and one for retailers. Chinese and Asian
versions are also available. The SFBB pack contains a series
of easy to understand safe methods for cooking, chilling, cleaning,
cross contamination and management.
It is designed to be easily tailored to your
business and can be implemented in a relatively short period of
time.
The pack and further information is available
free of charge from the Food Standards Agency on 0845 606 0667 or
e-mail foodstandards@ecgroup.co.uk.
The FSA have launched a DVD that explains how
to use the pack in 16 languages. this is now contained within
the SFBB pack. Copies can be obtained from the above or
viewed or down loaded directly from the FSA website.
Food Registration
If you run premises used for a food business, you must register
them with Maidstone Borough Council. This is free. Full information
on how to apply, and online forms to help you, are available under
Food Safety – food premises
registration
Food Hygiene Training
Training requirements depend on the type of
premises and the nature of the work carried out by the food
handler.
EU Hygiene Regulation 852/2004 states:
''The proprietor of a food business shall
ensure that food handlers engaged in the food business are
supervised and instructed and/or trained in food hygiene matters
commensurate with their work activities.''
Maidstone Borough Council runs a one day
course with exam leading to the Chartered Institute of
Environmental Health Level 2 Certificate in Food Safety.
The course covers key areas such as:
- Bacteriology
- Food Poisoning
- Prevention of Contamination
- Personal hygiene
- Premises and Equipment
- Pest Control
- Cleaning and disinfection
- Food law
Individual candidates fees including all
course materials and examination fees is £52.50 + VAT. For course
dates or to book onto a course please call 01622 602111.
Scores on the Doors
Maidstone Borough Council has a scheme which
gives consumers the chance to make informed choices about where
they eat or buy their food.
Scores on the Doors is a way of finding out
about the food hygiene standards of local food businesses which are
now given a star rating based on how well they meet hygiene
criteria with the results available on the Internet. The better the
standard, the higher the star rating.
The Scores on the Doors scheme is supported by
the Food Standards Agency (FSA) as part of a nationwide scheme and
is seen as an important tool for local councils committed to
improving food safety.
All catering and retail premises across the
borough including restaurants, pubs, café’s, takeaways, grocers,
butchers and supermarkets will be given a star rating. You can also
find out how clean your child’s school canteen is, which are the
best rated butchers, caterers and farm shops – even the food
hygiene standards of mobile sandwich vans
All businesses are given a score on how
well they perform in terms of hygiene, building structure and
overall attitude towards complying with the law. The scores range
from 5 stars (excellent) to no stars (very poor). The score given
to each business reflects the conditions found on the day of
inspection.
Whether you are dining out, looking for local
produce or grabbing a sandwich on the go, you can do it in
confidence by checking out the Scores on the Doors
website.
Complaints about food or premises
The investigation of food complaints is a role
shared by Environmental Health and Kent County Council, Trading
Standards. We investigate complaints that relate to hygiene
conditions within food businesses in the Borough and safety issues
about food sold from food businesses in the Borough. Matters
relating to labeling, date coding or miss-descriptions are dealt
with by the Trading Standards Department of Kent County Council,
who can be contacted on 08454 040506.
If you have bought food from a shop in the
Borough and find that it contains a foreign object, is mouldy or
has something else wrong with it, you can complain to the Council
and we will investigate your complaint. Alternatively you can
return the food to the shop where you purchased it.
It is not the Council's role to seek
compensation on your behalf.
What we do
The level of investigation will depend upon
the nature of the complaint, the Officer’s opinion and previous
knowledge of similar complaints. We will contact the premises that
sold the food, the manufacturer of the food and if necessary the
local authority for the area in which they are based. We will
gather as much information as possible to determine the source of
your complaint and the reasons why it occurred. The investigation
of food complaints can take a long time, the more complex
investigations often taking several months, but we will endeavor to
contact you regularly to update you on progress with your
complaint. When our investigation is completed we will decide on an
appropriate course of action and will notify you accordingly.
Under Section 21 of The Food Safety Act 1990,
businesses have a defense in law called "Due Diligence". This
applies if they were unable to prevent the complaint occurring, or
were taking all reasonable steps to prevent it happening. In order
to find this out, we need to find out what procedures the
manufacturer or retailer has, what their record with respect to
food hygiene is, how often complaints occur and what the opinion of
the Officers who inspect the premises is. This will generally
involve lengthy phone calls, correspondence and examination of
documentation. If in our opinion a due diligence defence is likely
to be achieved then we will be unable to take the complaint further
and the investigation will be closed.
How to make a complaint
Keep the food in a sealed container, in your
fridge or freezer if its condition is likely to deteriorate, until
you are able to make your complaint. You should keep the packaging
that the food came in and your receipt.
You can contact us on 01622 602202
or email customerservices@maidstone.gov.uk
Alternatively you can bring the food to our gateway reception at
any time the offices are open.
If you wish to complain about a premises
contact us on 01622 602202 or email customerservices@maidstone.gov.uk
, or write to:
The Environmental Health Manager
Maidstone Borough Council
Maidstone House
King Street
MAIDSTONE
ME15 6JQ
Complaints about the quality of food, food
labeling or date codes should be made to:
Consumer Direct South East on 08454 04 05
06.
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